MTN Foundation, in collaboration with the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime(UNODC), have engaged students of various higher institutions in Kano state in a campaign against drug abuse.
The students converged at the Bayero University Kano(BUK) entrance gate. They took a campaign walk through the BUK road, to Kabuga Junction and back to the old site campus, carrying placards with various inscriptions such as: “Be addicted to success not substance; one trial can trap you; choose life not drug; healthy body, healthy mind, no drugs; addiction starts with one wrong choice, it takes a community to break a habit, highness no be steeze among others.
Speaking to Journalists shortly after the event, MTN Foundation Senior Manager, Programme Implementation, Edward Fagbohun, said the yearly event, called the Anti-Substance Abuse Program(ASAP), is targeted at young people between the ages of 10 and 25 and aims to discourage themĀ from using substances or drugs.
Today we’re in Kano with students from BUK and other tertiary institutions across Kano state, just to create awareness about the dangers of drug abuse and to help young people understand that drugs don’t help but kill, with them being part of the fight.
“Like I said, it started in 2019, and it was informed by research that was done by the UNODC, which shows the high prevalence of substance abuse amongst young people in Nigeria. Some states stood out as high areas, and Kano state is one of them; that’s what informed this campaign in Kano State,” he noted.
Fagbohun also emphasised that they are organising training for teachers in selected schools and students on the dangers of substance and drug abuse to further build on the sensitisation campaign.
In his remarks, Dahiru Yahaya, representative of the Kano stateĀ NDLEA Command, commended MTN for partnering with NDLEA to ensure a drug-free society.
He also lamented that the issue of banditry, kidnapping and mass failure in academic examinations are all effects of drug abuse, hence, the need to invest in prevention by stopping the chain of production, supply and use.
